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With the January 2009 passage of a new constitution – Bolivia's 117th in 184 years – President Evo Morales won a crucial referendum on his ambitious social agenda. The new constitution protects key rights of the indigenous majority, calls for the equality of women, takes into consideration the environment and even mentions stem-cell research....

With the January 2009 passage of a new constitution – Bolivia's 117th in 184 years – President Evo Morales won a crucial referendum on his ambitious social agenda. The new constitution protects key rights of the indigenous majority, calls for the equality of women, takes into consideration the environment and even mentions stem-cell research. Naturally, there is a clause allowing the president to seek another term in office in December 2009.

While the constitution puts ownership of Bolivia's precious resources in the hands of the local populations, it does little to explain how the rights to these resources will be dispersed, and much legislation is required to create an effective means for agricultural and mining operations to make use of them. Until this takes place, the temptation Bolivia's vast mineral wealth holds to industrial operators will be tempered by the risks involved with the uncertain legal landscape.

This year, financial lawyers will be kept busy transferring existing government concessions over to the new regime and predicting what consequences future legislation will have for their clients. While companies with existing concessions will see little effect on their operations, new contracts will not be made until after the governing laws are put in place. When the market opens, lawyers believe there will be many opportunities for investment and new projects.

The re-nationalisation aims of the Morales regime may effectively keep foreign investors away from Bolivia for some time. The government maintains its control of the oil and gas industry with last May's nationalisation of BP's aviation products and services division (Air BP). And in 2008 the regime turned its attention to the telecoms sector, with a move for Telecom Italia's shares in Entel. The transaction is still deadlocked in arbitration at the time of writing.

In the mining industry, the government may be less eager to disrupt the steady flow of international financing with its nationalising efforts. Along with longstanding mineral projects in tin, zinc, silver and gold, Bolivia contains half the world's known reserves of lithium in the vast salt fields of Salar de Uyuni. But the government is hesitant to exploit this resource, and existing operations already cover current global demands.

Lawyers foresee a venture between private companies and the government that goes beyond the mere extraction of the metal, and will keep the lithium-ion battery production process within the country. Given the potential of this resource, the lithium question may prove to be the crucible in which the new constitution is tested.